River Valley makes memories in its boys basketball opener at Ridgedale

MORRAL — River Valley isn't the team that won the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the Elite Eight to earn a Division IV regional runner-up trophy.

They may be different, but they showed they're still better than good. The Vikings romped to a 76-35 boys basketball season opening victory at Ridgedale Nov. 26.

"I think it very much is a program win," RV coach Rodney Brown said. "It’s a new team. We have a new identity. It’s a new season, but we are the defending champs. There is that part of it. We are new, and we have to make our own memories."

RV scorches Ridgedale early

The Vikings seemed to rack up a season full of memories in one half, rolling to leads of 7-0 and 23-2 before ending the first quarter up 28-6. They didn't slow down in the second period either, continuing to hit 3-pointers and throw down dunks like in the first eight minutes. RV led 41-6 with 5:40 left and went into halftime with a 56-19 advantage.

"We wanted to have a good start, a fast start, and try to put them away early and not give them any life. That’s what we were expected to do. I told the boys we have to do that. I was very pleased with our first half," Brown said.

River Valley's All-Ohio senior guard Chase Smith nailed six of his seven 3-pointers in the first half, and all-district forward Carter Myers had a couple of dunks among his seven field goals in the first two quarters. Eli Snyder, the third returnee who was part of last year's rotation, threw down a dunk to make it 17-2 five minutes into the game.

Smith ended with 30 points, while Myers had 22 and Snyder 9.

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"You think of the three returners having a great start, and that’s what you hope for. That’s what we’re leaning on. They had a great start and were ready to go," Brown said. "You are wondering how the new faces are going to do, and I thought they did a great job and helped us when we needed them. We’re talking about defending, and we need them guys to help and play for us."

Eight players scored for the Vikings as Carter Logan, Ellis McFarland, Kolton Lang, Chris Davis and Tyler Monnette are the newcomers who earned significant minutes.

"We had a few dunks and had fun. They played hard and that’s what I asked them to do," Brown said.

What was Ridgedale's perspective?

As for Ridgedale, it's a team that is coming off 17 wins in 2024-25. Like RV, it's not the same group as a year ago, but the Rockets still have a lot of that team's DNA returning. Ridgedale coach Mike Mathey wanted to challenge his group outside the Northwest Central Conference this year.

"The goal with scheduling some of these games was to play better competition and see how good these teams are and how we stack up and what we need to work on to make a little bit of a run in the tournament this year," Mathey said.

The start on Wednesday was a worst-case scenario for the Rockets.

"We wanted to see where we were at. Obviously we have some stuff to work on, but I’m not too discouraged," Mathey said. "I’m not worried. There’s some positives out of this, so we’re going to keep working and get back to the grind and give it everything we’ve got."

Evan Ricketts led Ridgedale with 16 points, and Isaac Lust added 10.

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: River Valley returnees lead boys basketball squad at Ridgedale